Very Large Online Platform
The EU's formal label for a service with 45 million or more monthly users in the bloc, which triggers the strictest tier of Digital Services Act duties.
Very Large Online Platform, usually shortened to VLOP, is the legal category the European Commission uses for the biggest services under the Digital Services Act. The threshold is a plain number: 45 million average monthly users in the EU. Cross it, and the Commission supervises you directly instead of leaving it to a regulator in one member state. The sibling category, Very Large Online Search Engine or VLOSE, applies to search services.
The label carries real obligations rather than just a name: annual systemic risk assessments, independent audits, data access for approved researchers, and public transparency reports. The list already includes the platforms you would expect, and in August 2026 it grew in a new direction when ChatGPT was designated a VLOSE, the first standalone AI service brought under the rules.